Children's home run by Esland North Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1264840 1 Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides medium- to long-term care and accommodation for up to three young people who have complex social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. The post of registered manager is currently vacant.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable as this is the home’s first inspection.

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1264840 2

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that ensures that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1) and (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff are up to date with training on missing from care and child sexual exploitation. 15/06/2018

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have warm and trusting relationships with child-focused staff. They feel that staff care about them, listen to them and help them to focus on their own well-being and needs. Young people feel able to talk openly with staff about their identity needs and staff support them by, for example, researching resources such as LGBT groups and events.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Consultation with young people is excellent. They enjoy and engage in weekly young people’s meetings. Staff give them consultation documents, which seek their views on, for example, the quality of service provided by their social worker. Young people receive a bimonthly, colourful and fun children’s newsletter from the provider, which showcases young people’s achievements and activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff skilfully undertake daily key work, which is relevant to the young people and addresses complex and challenging issues identified in their care plans. Staff involve young people closely in their plans and provide them with independent advocates when appropriate. This empowers young people to develop their confidence and express their views, wishes and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some young people had been out of education for up to three years and dedicated staff successfully supported them to attend and engage in local schools. Staff work with young people to identify future education and career options and to enable and encourage them to achieve their goals. Inspection report children’s home: 1264840 3 Young people have access to a therapeutic team which assesses their complex emotional and mental health needs. Therapists work closely with staff to ensure that they understand each young person’s needs and provide appropriate and effective care. Young people make significant progress in improving family relationships, managing their emotions and behaviour, establishing stability and responding to boundaries and routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Enthusiastic and active staff encourage young people to improve their physical health by healthy eating, walking and trips to the gym. One young person has successfully given up smoking and is now encouraging some of the staff to do the same.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Family members and professionals praise the conduct of staff and the progress that young people are able to make. One social worker said that staff go ‘above and beyond for young people’.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff are trained in key topics, including safeguarding, child sexual exploitation, children going missing, physical interventions, radicalisation and behaviour management. A small number of staff members have yet to complete all of this training and this is an area for improvement. High staffing levels mean that staff are always closely supported by colleagues.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Impact assessments, risk assessments and behaviour management plans are detailed and clear. Managers and staff review and update them on an ongoing basis. Staff read and sign them and demonstrate an understanding of each young person’s safeguarding needs. Staff involve young people in their risk assessments and encourage them to aim to, for example, reduce their staffing levels or work towards unsupervised free time.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff use creative work sheets and information packs to undertake key work with young people. This helps them understand the risks of going missing and important issues like child sexual exploitation and grooming. Staff give young people scenarios to think about and discuss what they would or would not do in certain situations to keep safe. Staff regularly invite professionals, such as the police, to come and work with young people to help them keep themselves safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff are very clear that forming trusting relationships is fundamental to keeping young people safe. Young people talk to staff when they feel worried and benefit from the stability and security that the placement provides. Young people become increasingly safe. For example, staff successfully kept one person safe for several months, for the first time in her complex care history. Another young person has successfully reduced her self-harming behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This service opened in December 2017 and has a stable, resilient and committed staff team. The registered manager left at the end of January. A new manager has recently been appointed and is in the process of applying for registration. In the interim, staff have Inspection report children’s home: 1264840 4 been supported very effectively by two covering managers from other homes and by senior managers. Staff praise the good communication and planning put in place in the absence of a registered manager. They say that this has enabled them to continue to provide young people with the stability and consistent care they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers ensure that regular staff supervision is both reflective and supportive so that staff are constantly learning and improving their practice. Staff share ideas, skills and knowledge with each other and are developing into a cohesive team. Staff from a range of backgrounds, and with different levels of experience, demonstrate a clear understanding of the ethos of the service and a consistent approach to the needs of young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The covering managers regularly monitor the systems and progress of the service and have put in place a number of actions to drive up standards further. These include focusing on care planning and providing staff with additional training in report writing. They identify the individual professional development needs of each staff member and source additional training for them. Some early conduct issues that occurred with new and inexperienced staff have been addressed effectively by managers via supervision, staff meetings and training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and the managers work closely with other professionals and are not afraid to challenge or escalate concerns when young people are not being listened to or their needs are not being met.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: 1264840 5

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Esland North Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Esland Ltd, Suite 1, Riverside Business Centre, Foundry Lane, Milford, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 0RN

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Inspector

Louise Whittle, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1264840 6 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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